MUDUKATAVA VILLAGE, Sri Lanka — It takes a lot for a lifelong coastal dweller to be surprised by the sea. But a few months ago, when seawater suddenly fell from the ceiling of her beachside hut, Nilane Rupaka Silva couldn’t stop wondering. “I went out for a look, seeing a …
PUNATSANGCHHU, Bhutan — Traveling in this western Bhutanese valley is like going back in time before the Industrial Revolution, with only forests, rice paddies and scattered farming villages visible from the road. But after one more turn, the peaceful countryside life is suddenly replaced by chugging machinery. Welcome to the …
THAMO, Nepal — Dawa Tshering Sherpa remembers the 1985 flood as if it happened just yesterday. At that time, Sherpa, a then-trekking guide living in this riverside village in the Mount Everest region, was home, resting after lunch. “Suddenly, I heard a sound like a thunder,” the 68-year-old recalled over …
KATMANDU, Nepal — The streets of this crowded tourist city are like a slow-moving showroom of the auto industry, with packs of buses, cars, taxis and motorbikes chugging along. But if you take a closer look, you will find that some of the smaller buses have only one front wheel. …
XILINHOT, China — By many measures, this northern Chinese city is an ideal candidate for being China’s Wyoming. It has more brown coal reserves than any other Chinese region, and it is only 600 kilometers away from power-hungry Beijing. The sparsely populated landscape here provides enough space for new coal …
Once again, China’s ability to handle a changing climate is being tested. In 2013, rainfall in south China’s Yunnan province dropped 70 percent below average levels. This, combined with similar rainfall decline over the past three years, has turned the once water-abundant region into a much drier place. China is …
LIJIANG, China — After photographing Black Dragon Lake here for eight years, He Jiaxin knows of more places where he can get the lake to mirror the majesty of its surrounding mountains than anyone else. But this year, he has a problem: The lake has disappeared. Since its springs dried …
SHANGHAI — On a foggy afternoon in early 2012, Kenn Ross heard his cellphone ringing. He picked it up, and that was the beginning of a multimillion-dollar dialogue. “We know that your company helps form acquisitions between Western firms and players in China. Do you have relations with providers of …
With the calendar turning to 2013, the long-awaited next phase in a campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will soon take place in China. Five Chinese cities and two provinces will begin pilot programs to cap the amount of carbon dioxide key polluters can emit with a system of tradable …
SHANGQIU, China — This is not the equivalent of Silicon Valley. There isn’t a lab in sight or a high-tech industrial park in the area. What attracts most of the attention is a two-floor factory building with a signboard that reads “Shangqiu Sanli New Energy Demonstration.” Still, this is a …